Pages

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

A few WIP's to share today. This week and next are pretty busy so I'm not sure how much crafty time I will have. Hoping the second half of October calms down and I can complete projects and start new ones. Is it wrong that I'm already thinking about what I'm going to knit myself once I am done all the holiday gifts I need to make? I'm sure I'm not the only one.

I finally kept the living room floor free of toys long enough to decide the layout of my Cuzco Corners quilt. It's a pretty simple block. Using a charm pack (of Cuzco fabric, thus the name of the quilt), I cut each charm into 2.5 inch squares, then sewed a square on each corner of a black layer cake square. I think this would also look neat with a patterned layer cake and a solid charm pack. This quilt will be a gift. And for those who don't know, a charm pack is 5 inch squares, while layer cakes are 10 inch squares. The quilt will be 6 x 7 blocks, roughly 57 x 66.5 inches finished.

I've finished the first pattern repeat of the Flower Garden shawl and started the second. This is also a gift.

And 3 repeats of the Nosbonsing socks have been knit. These are going slow. I might frog them and go down a needle size as they seem a little loose.

They've been sitting out drying for 24 hours. I'm hoping they are dry by tomorrow so I can take pictures to share here on Friday.

Friday, September 23, 2016

It's been a long, long week. After bragging to my sister when I talked to her on Sunday that my back seemed all better, I hurt it Monday and Thursday and today. Needless to say, I'm moving slow this week and blogging and all forms of social media have been ignored. It's not as bad as January, no pain pills really needed, but it's been a rollercoaster of feeling good then feeling bad that has me really frustrated.

Here is my stack of finishes waiting for modeled shots. From top to bottom there are, a red scarf (for charity), a cowl (for me), Cuzco blocks finally trimmed and ironed, Beacon Hill cardigan blocked and waiting for buttons and Spin Cycle quilt blocks pieced and ironed and ready for me to decide the final layout of the quilt.

This is as close as I got to an in progress shot. My empty cereal bowl holding yarn scraps as I wove in the ends of the Beacon Hill cardigan.

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Made progress on several projects this week. I started a couple new ones but almost done an old one. Several WIP's got ignored last week but hope to get back to them this week.

Has anyone else found it harder to find the time and energy to craft with the kids back in school? I'm definitely out of the house and doing more this month, than I did all summer. Guess that is what happens when you say yes to volunteering at your kid's school. I should circle September 23rd on the calendar. That will be the first day that I will have a couple hours to myself, all the kids will be at school/preschool. It will be great. Already trying to decide what I will do that day. Yoga? Quilt? Knit and watch a movie? Read? Sleep-in? I can hardly wait.

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

I'm not even sure when I started this quilt. Either last year or the beginning of this one.This will be a snowman wall hanging, - just keep reading to find out more. I had almost 2 rows quilted before I set it aside for months. I finished it yesterday. (Found it - started it last December.)

Close-up of all those pebbles. I'm considering them snowballs for this quilt.

And the whole inspiration for this quilt came after I bought a set of carrot noses and black buttons to make snowmen. Originally, I had enough buttons to give every snowman a carrot nose and two eyes. But I think the bigger ones need smiles, so I need to buy more buttons. Above they are just placed, not sewn on yet.

I got 6 carrot noses sewn on yesterday. This might take me a few weeks to finish.

Pulled fabrics for another quilt yesterday. Hope to iron and cut them today.

I put a charity quilt under the needle yesterday, too. It's nice to do some free-motion stippling after making all those little snowballs. This is the 2 inch quilt top I finished earlier this year. Hope to get several charity quilts finished before the end of the year.

Friday, September 2, 2016

After several hours of piecing yesterday, I have a finished quilt top to share today. A fun, scrappy project I was inspired to make after seeing photos of my sister's on her blog and instagram. Pattern was Patchwork Olympics and was meant to be made during the Olympics. I joined late and then changed the pattern to make it bigger. The original was 48 x 60 and used 1.5 inch squares for some of the blocks. I had 4.5 and 2.5 inch squares cut and ready to be used but I really didn't want to cut hundreds of little squares. I also wanted the quilt to be twin size, since this quilt will be going to a charity that prefers that size. I had to cut more 4.5 inch squares when I decided to make the quilt bigger. Lucky for me, I had a bunch of charm squares leftover from several different charm packs that I trimmed down and used. Mine finishes at 64 x 80.

Finished quilt top. Took this picture, standing between houses to try and block the wind. You can see, instead of using the 1.5 inch squares for the bottom right corner, I added more 2.5 squares in the middle and then put 4.5 inch squares on the other side. Doesn't have the same effect as the original but I still like it. And it used up a lot of scraps.

Tried to take a picture in the backyard but the wind kept taking it away.